By ANTHONY TOMMASINI [NY Times, 28 July 2006]
BAYREUTH, Germany
WAGNERITES from around the world have come here to the Bayreuth Festival for a new production of Wagnerís ìRing des Nibelungen,î which is already under way. The opera house here, designed by Wagner and dedicated exclusively to the performance of his works, opened in 1876 with the first complete production of the ìRing,î a four-opera, 16-hour, staggeringly ambitious creation.